Senator Dick Durbin pleaded that "this should not be the new normal", but if one is being realistic it has been the "normal" for years. Every atrocity is followed by the same pattern of rhetoric from both sides and every time nothing changes. That's our normal now.
The "bump stock" an ingenious modification to a semi automatic rifle that gives it roughly the same rate of fire as a manufactured fully automatic is a simple and cheap way of circumventing an overly narrowly written law restricting the sale of fully automatic weapons. That is a simple loophole that should be closed for starters.
But the broader problem is the assertion of "rights". The right granted by the second amendment, ignoring the debate over whether it was intended only to apply to a "well regulated militia" ignores the externality that flows from its granting. The right of an individual to "bear arms" indirectly represents an externality, in the "costs" that flow from non-self-defense gun related homicides. Without cast iron prevention, it is inevitable that innocent people will die.
Thoughts and prayers are nice, but getting a little old. Nicer would be collective action that prevents another mass shooting.
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